AI in CPaaS Helps with Automation But Inflates Traffic

CPaaS is looked at as the "game-changer" for savvy providers. This cloud-based platform delivers communication like building blocks, letting providers pick and choose features – voice, video, messaging – and integrate them into their existing offerings.

For example, many of us are familiar with a bank app with two-factor authentication via text, or a travel booking platform with real-time chat support. Or even chatting with your Uber driver on the app. CPaaS unlocks this flexibility.

A session at ITEXPO 2024 looked at how CPaaS is re-inventing the traditional telecom model and the opportunities it presents for service providers to become more agile in responding to market needs, create more value for their customers, and generate additional revenue streams.

The session was led by Andy Abramson (News - Alert), CEO and Founder, Comunicano Inc., as moderator and featured Bryan Nelson, solutions engineer, Intelisys; Heather Share, messaging expert, Sinch; and Briana Sullivan, vice president of product, marketing, and Communications, NUSO.

This session looked at how CPaaS is re-inventing the traditional telecom model and the opportunities it presents for service providers to become more agile in responding to market needs, create more value for their customers and generate additional revenue streams. But, with one wrinkle, and that is AI.

To kick off the session, Abramson asked the panel how AI is changing CPaaS.

“We have gone from the days where a misplaced comma in code would take hours to find to now asking AI to find it in a faster, more efficient time,” said Nelson.

“From a dev perspective, AI can be used to speed up the development process,” said Sullivan. “In marketing, we look at ways to augment outreach campaigns. For customer experience, we ask ourselves how we can uplift to give our customers tools to really help the end user.”

But there is also a downside to AI in CPaas that Share brought up.

“AI has inflated traffic - bad actors are sending billions of messages to customers,” said Share.

“With AI in CpaaS, we had to create ML to combat super spammers. We want to shield most of that spam from our customers. Stopping that only helps the credibility of the company.”

To end the discussion, Abramson asked the panel to talk about challenges with AI that will have an impact on CPaaS in the future.

“One challenge is a misalignment between stakeholders,” said Nelson. “IT is skeptical about AI and the value it brings to the organization. The leadership is very excited to tell ChatGPT to write an email.

Share wanted to end the conversation on a more positive note and talk about how to customize and personalize products for customers’ end users.

“At the start, a lot of things were coming out with poor results,” said Share. “Our challenge is to have a responsible AI product that can help us and give us the results our customers want to see.”

Shara and the team at Sinch want to see how they can use AI responsibly and make a more personalized experience for customers and their end users.